Akwesasne’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.2% of area homes over the radon guideline
Around Akwesasne, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.22 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Akwesasne grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Akwesasne’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Akwesasne: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Akwesasne faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Akwesasne grades C− for hazard risk
For Akwesasne, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Akwesasne has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Akwesasne’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Akwesasne burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Little near Akwesasne’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 1.1% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 4.8% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Quebec · highest of 514
To three decimals the burn rate around Akwesasne is zero, as for 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec, while Mistissini reaches 0.31%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Akwesasne is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% rank higher.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
No flood study is listed for Akwesasne
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Akwesasne: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Akwesasne on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Akwesasne is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Akwesasne floods.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Akwesasne $0.22 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Akwesasne’s $0.22 is about 7.4 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.22, Akwesasne is above the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière has the most at $0.48.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Akwesasne is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 7.4% rank higher.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
The loss is to Akwesasne’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Akwesasne: 8.2% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Monteregie health region
Near the middle for radon: Akwesasne’s area 8.2%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Akwesasne is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 8.2%, beside a median of 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Akwesasne, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are higher.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Akwesasne as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Akwesasne
Alerts for Akwesasne come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Evacuation orders for Akwesasne come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Akwesasne
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akwesasne | Low | $0.22 | 8.2% | None listed |
| South Glengarry 14,355 · 13 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Akwesasne (Part) 59 1,947 · 13 km | Low | $0.14 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Cornwall 54,346 · 14 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.1% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Akwesasne has the most fire on record (low); South Glengarry follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Akwesasne faces
Practical steps for Akwesasne’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Akwesasne’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Akwesasne.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Akwesasne’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Akwesasne is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Akwesasne
Is radon a problem in Akwesasne?
8.2% of the 110 homes Health Canada tested around Akwesasne topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Akwesasne?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Akwesasne $0.22 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Akwesasne at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Akwesasne: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Akwesasne’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Akwesasne’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Akwesasne flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Akwesasne (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).